Monthly Archives: May 2014

Amelia spent the next few weeks alone; she heard Kireina was doing a job that took her all the way to the Alik’r Desert, and she really missed her friend. After all that had happened, she could really have used the company. She did a few jobs and trained, keeping herself busy and glad for any distraction she could find.

One morning when she was out and about, Giblets the dog ran up to her. He was a small mixed breed with brown fur and a constantly wagging tail. He belonged to a man named Roy, whom she had run a few interesting errands for in the past. He was a nice guy, affable and generally unassuming, but Amelia got the idea from the errands he sent her on that he knew a lot more about the inner workings of Daggerfall than he let on.

Betath and Kaawen spent a couple of weeks doing random jobs around the island and getting to know each other. They used thunderbugs to get rid of a rat problem on a moon sugar plantation, helped solve a harpy problem, and assisted some Bosmer whose host tree was ill. Betath didn’t really understand what was going on with the tree, but it distressed Kaawen quite a bit. Apparently, these wood elves had summoned a spirit to heal the tree, but a kwama farmer’s livestock had gotten loose and was trying to eat the tree spirit.

“Have you ever tried to pilot a ship through a hurricane when your entire stock of kwama eggs hatches and goes completely bug-nuts?” the elf had said. “I’ve tried it; can’t recommend it.”

Kaawen hadn’t appreciated when Betath had laughed himself silly over it.

Abject terror. That was the first and last thing she remembered. She had been taken out of her bedroll by several masked thugs and rendered unconscious with some kind of spell. When she awoke, she was bound on an altar and a high elf was standing over with a blade, chanting. She didn’t even have time to scream before the blade came down and pierced her heart. One single moment of mind-blowing pain, and she felt nothing else.

Captain Jimila let Kaawen and Betath sleep through the night, then fed them the next morning before they went on their way. Kaawen couldn’t help noticing how Betath fit right in while they breakfasted with the crew. She was friendly herself, but he treated them like they were old buddies, laughing and joking with them in a way she had rarely seen in an Altmer. When they departed, Jimila grasped their forearms warmly and told them sincerely that she hoped they would meet again.

Sergeant Firion even went so far as to hug them. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did,” she told Kaawen as she embraced her.

It was midday, and the glare was blinding. The fact that her head was throbbing didn’t help. “Oh, sweet Y’ffre,” groaned Kaawen, a tiny Bosmer with long, silver hair and emerald-green eyes, squinting to block out the sunlight. Well, at least she wasn’t seasick anymore. She usually had no problem with ocean travel, but riding out a hurricane could make anybody’s stomach do flipflops.

She dragged herself to a sitting position and took in her surroundings. She was on a beach strewn with debris, and a handful of shipwrecks dotted the coastline. The storm had come up out of nowhere, and it had been devastating. She didn’t even see the Wayrest, the ship she had been sailing on, among the wreckage. She wondered how far she had traveled before washing ashore. The last thing she remembered was getting tossed over the side by a huge wave and feeling a searing pain in her head. She had been sure she was going to die, but apparently the Divines weren’t done with her yet, because here she sat. Aside from the headache, she seemed to be all right; she even had her bow with her, still threaded through the strap of her knapsack, which remained buckled across her chest. Unfortunately, her quiver and all of her arrows were gone.

5E 20, 14 Last Seed
Rowan opened her eyes slowly, her skin stinging and her head throbbing. Someone knelt next to the bed, and she blinked a few times until the figure came into focus. It was Master Lodur.